Artwork

I have a sentimental collector's heart like my dad and also a frightful hate of clutter like my mom, so what do I do with the countless pictures the kids draw for us? I put them on the blog. Then I throw them away. Solved!

This is our family, by William. Notice the baby in mommy's tummy... usually when William draws a picture like this, he intently puts long, flowing hair on the baby in my womb, insisting it is going to be a girl. 

An impromptu picture for daddy, inspired by some new truck stickers, by William

Barrett begins drawing faces!


A picture that, sadly, never made it to Keelyn!

One night, while I was kissing him good night, William told me that he wanted to write a letter to Jesus telling him how great He was and how He was going to defeat Satan. Over the next couple days, Will kept forgetting, until later random moments when he would say, "We haven't written a letter to Jesus yet!" Of course these recollections always come when we are about to get into bed, or the bath, or eat dinner. I said, "Remind me when we can do it!" The next day we had a good chance. Unfortunately, the resulting letter was not as worshipful as I think he originally intended, in his contemplative and reverent bedtime mood, and turned out a little bossy instead, but I love it. He asked me to draw a picture of Jesus throwing Satan into the pit, and that's the best you get here.

He began his letter with random letters of the alphabet. "What does that spell?" he asked eagerly. I did my best to sound out the non-word, which actually sounded a lot like the word "jail." His face brightened and he was delighted he'd written the word jail, especially since the whole point of the letter was to talk about how we were going to lock Satan up. After we corrected "jail," he narrated the body of the letter to me and, once I finished my elegant illustration, added artwork for the pit.

On the reverse side, he drew another picture for Jesus.

He really wanted to mail it, but we never got around to it, which is good because I wasn't sure exactly how to handle that. 

Today (June 11)

Sunday... ahh, Sundays. The most tiring day of the week!

Today we walked into the house after pulling in from church. While that sounds easy enough, this is typically a very challenging part of Sunday because the kids are tired, everyone is hungry/absolutely starving (me), the baby is crying/needs to nurse/nap/eat, the house is a tornado scene from having whipped out the door with minutes to spare that morning, everyone has itchy church clothes on that they'd like to change out of, and it seems like with the mere act of walking into the house, you are suddenly imbued with a long list of things to do right now.

But today we walked into the house, and I set Neva down onto the floor, and she and the boys ran off happily to play and entertain themselves while I could make lunch. It was an incredible feeling. They contentedly ran off on their own to wait for lunch. I told Brian, "Wow, we've ventured into a new era. Neva just ran off to play with the boys when we got into the door. Up until now she's always been cranky and crying after church when we get home."

 "Yep," he replied, "Just in time to add another baby."

Yes! 

Mom and Dad were visiting MT, so we stayed home and enjoyed the time outside. I am just loving these low-key porch-sitting summer evenings. 

When Will found this rock, he informed me, "This is a snake rock. Snakes LOVE these rocks."

Barrett found some treasures too... dead leaves:


Neva was tickled to be riding in this tiny stroller:


"Mom, this is a magic leaf. It's for you. Here, this is for you."


Barrett, you're so handsome with your rose! Show me your most handsome face:

Popsicles!!!

When Neva sees a food she loves (which are many) she screams with delight.


Watering the plants with a big pregnant belly!


The kids took turns pushing each other. I tried to keep my mouth shut and not worry at them.